


'Tis Well With Me, In Paradise I Seem To Be

by maschinenmensch



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Christmas Story, F/F, Fluff, Holtzbert - Freeform, it's disgusting honestly, omg so much fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 06:24:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8738239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maschinenmensch/pseuds/maschinenmensch
Summary: Holtzmann reveals the importance of December 6th to her fellow Ghostbusters.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably the grossest fluff that has ever come out of this nearly empty skull of mine. And of course it's a Christmas themed story because apparently I can't get enough of them. Enjoy!

The morning of December 6th seemed like any other day in the lives of the Ghostbusters. The coffee was brewing in the kitchen, Patty had brought in bagels for the gang, Kevin was late (as usual), and Holtzmann was tinkering with her latest project in the upstairs lab.

“Ugh, what a miserable day,” Erin complained, her hands warming themselves against the mug of coffee she slowly took a sip out of. It was a very grey day in NYC, complete with sleet and the usual transit delays that came with such weather. Her hands were finally beginning to defrost after waiting what seemed like an eternity for the subway that morning, because of course she had left her gloves on the counter in her apartment.

“Could be worse,” Abby replied, her mouth half-full of a cinnamon raisin bagel. “At least it wasn’t snow. I dread the day when Holtz puts that plow she rigged on the front of the Ecto-1. She’s going to get us all killed with the damn thing - you can barely see out the front windshield with it on!”

“Speaking of our favorite crazy lady, she didn’t come in with you this morning. Something up?” Patty shot Erin a concerned look. Holtzmann and Erin had spent nearly every night together since they had started dating over a year prior. They had become so inseparable their friends had coined them as “Gilmann,” which annoyed the physicist but amused Holtz to the point that she had t-shirts made with the phrase on them for the two of them to wear.

“She said she had to finish something in the lab last night. It’s fine, no big deal.” Erin tried not to let on how much it bothered her that she woke up without her girlfriend curled up next to her like a koala, but it definitely had gotten her day off on the wrong foot. She stirred her coffee half-heartedly, wondering when the blonde-haired scientist would come down to greet her. Erin found it a tad odd that Holtz hadn’t bolted down the stairs the second she entered the firehouse.

As if on cue, loud footsteps descended the staircase at a rapid pace. Holtzmann galloped into the kitchen, planting a kiss on Erin’s cheek before making a beeline for the coffeepot.

“Good morning ladies and germs!” Holtz grabbed a well-worn coffee mug from the cupboard (the nearly faded tagline on it read, ‘My duty cycle is about once a day, depending on how much coffee I drink’) and filled it, adding so much sugar to the coffee afterward that Abby made a gagging sound.

“Well don’t you look sharp today Holtzy!”

“Oh this?” Holtzmann looked down at her outfit in response to Patty’s compliment. She was wearing a grey slack and vest combo, a light green button-down accompanied by a red and green striped tie. Her hair was impeccably coiffed, her combat boots shined. “Well it is a special day you know!”

“Oh, did you finally fix that one containment unit so it doesn’t sound like it’s burping at inappropriate moments?”

Holtzmann shook her head as she rested one of her hands on Erin’s shoulder who was now sitting at the small kitchen table. “No, Abs. Do you guys really not know what today is?”

Her comment was returned by three blank stares and complete silence.

“Seriously? It’s Saint Nicholas Day. Or as my German grandma used to say, Nikolaustag.”

“Oh!” Patty’s face lit up. “Isn’t that basically the European version of Santa Claus? I think I read about it in a book about Christmas customs years ago.”

“Well, sorta.” Holtzmann continued. “Santa Claus basically is copied from it. December 6th is St. Nicholas’ feast day, and the night before you leave a pair of your shoes out. And if you’ve been a good boy or girl, when you wake up the next day he’ll have left a present in your shoes. My grandma used to do this for us when we were wee Holtzmanns.”

“Aw, that’s cute.” Erin squeezed the hand Holtz had put on her shoulder, earning a beaming smile from the engineer.

“What happened if you weren’t good?” Abby inquired.

“You’d get a piece of coal or a stick in your shoe. The year I accidently caused a fire that singed the fur off the dog and destroyed the couch I got both. It was fine though, I found them both to be quite useful down the line.”

Holtzmann leaned over to place a kiss on the top of Erin’s head.

“Sooooooo...if you ladies go over to where our coveralls are hanging, there’s a possibility St. Nicholas may have paid us a visit last night.” Holtz tried to put an innocent look on her face to no avail.

“Move it Patty!” Both Abby and Patty scrambled to the doorway out of the kitchen, the women playfully shoving one another in an attempt to see what awaited them.

“That was a really nice story Holtzy.” Erin placed a kiss on Holtzmann’s cheek as the two women walked hand-in-hand out of the kitchen.

“Eh, it’s nothing.” Erin noticed a slight blush on her girlfriend’s cheeks. They stopped when they got to the wall where their coveralls were hung. In front of them, three pairs of work boots were lined up neatly.

“Well well, what do we have here?” Holtzmann was grinning gleefully. “Patty, I believe the pair of boots on the far right are yours if you’d like to look inside.”

Patty practically ran to her boots and pulled a wrapped package that was sticking out of one of them. She ripped through the festive wrapping paper and squealed when she saw what had been revealed.

“A book of historical maps of New York City! Holtzy baby, you’re the best!”

Patty enveloped Holtzmann in a bear hug that lifted her slightly off the ground, resulting in a strangled cry from the engineer. Once Patty had put her down, Holtz pointed to the pair of boots in the middle.

“Ok Abby, you’re next!”

Abby took a blocky wrapped package out of her boots. After unwrapping it, she unveiled a canister of tea.

“It’s a Chinese herbal tea that is supposed to go well with wontons. At least that’s what the lady at the tea shop said. She kinda looked at me funny.”

“Holtz, that is too sweet.” Abby gave Holtzmann a one-handed hug, both women pounding each other on the back.

Holtzmann turned to Erin. “OK, Er-Bear. I saved the best for last!”

The blonde winked at her, but Erin couldn’t help but think her girlfriend looked a tad nervous for some reason.

The physicist leaned down to grab one of her boots. She stuck her hand inside, reaching around but finding nothing.

“Uh-oh, I think your gift is in the other one babe. Try again.” Erin heard Holtzmann’s voice behind her, along with a slight rustling noise. She paid it no mind as she grabbed the other boot.

“Holtz, there’s nothing in here either!”

“Look harder - it might be down by the toes.”

Erin reached as far as her hand would go, finally touching what felt like a small piece of paper. She pulled out a small folded wad of parchment. As she opened it, she thought she heard Abby gasp, but was too focused on figuring out what the present was to ask what was the matter.

The unfolded piece of paper had two words written on it in Holtzmann’s scratchy handwriting.

_Turn around._

Erin slowly turned around. Behind her Holtzmann was down on one knee, a small box with a tiny-bow tie affixed to the top held out to her in one of her hands. She cleared her throat and spoke in a stilted, nervous tone.

“I never thought I’d find that person that would ever make me feel complete. Folks like me aren’t supposed to, at least that’s what I’ve always been led to believe. But one day you walked into my life, wearing tweed and a tiny-bow tie, and ever since then my life has never been the same. I don’t know how I ever got this lucky, and I don’t know if I deserve you, but Erin Gilbert, I love you more than anything in this whole wide world. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?”

Erin looked into Holtzmann’s bright blue eyes, a single tear slowly rolling down the engineer’s cheek. It was only a few seconds between Holtzmann’s question and Erin’s answer, but for the two of them it seemed like time stopped.

“Yes! Oh my god Holtz, yes. I love you so much Jillian.”

The two women completely tuned out the cheering and whooping by Abby and Patty as Holtzmann rose up from her knee. Erin grabbed the engineer’s cheeks and they kissed passionately, the world outside of them completely forgotten.

After a moment the two women pulled apart, both of them crying. Holtzmann opened up the small box to reveal a simple hammer forged silver band.

“I made it myself. I hope you like it.”

“I love it Holtzy. Almost as much as I love you.”

Holtzmann slipped the ring on Erin’s finger, bringing her hand to her lips and kissing it after she did so. They gazed into each other’s eyes, no words needing to be spoken between them.

“Oh my god you two. Can we all get a hug now?”

Erin looked over Holtzmann’s shoulder to see Abby and Patty gripping one another’s shoulders in excitement, both them also crying.

“Group Ghostbusters hug!” Holtzmann bellowed.

Patty and Abby approached the couple and wrapped their arms around them, expressing their congratulations in-between happy squeals and sniffling.

Holtzmann brought her mouth close to Erin’s ear and whispered.

“I told you this day would be special.”  


**Author's Note:**

> omg that was soooooo gross.
> 
> St. Nicholas Day really isn't a thing in the States. The only reason I know about it is my gf lived in Germany for a year, and one December 6th I woke up to find presents in my shoes, which confused me greatly. Now that you know, you have a few days to surprise someone in your life.
> 
> The title of this fic comes from a french song, La Légende de Saint Nicolas. Yes, I actually spend time looking up this kind of stuff.
> 
> Comments/kudos are adored. You can send me good tidings on tumblr - @geekmisconduct


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